Many Web sites attempt to catalog or provide access to an enormous amount of material, typically presented through Web “pages,” in a multiplicity of subject areas or categories. For example, an Internet “portal” or “search engine” Web site, designed to help users find the Web content that is of interest to them, may list or otherwise incorporate millions of Web sites and/or individual Web pages pertaining to thousands of subject areas, such as Arts, Computers, Sports, Entertainment, etc. Also by way of example, a retail Web site or “e-tailer” may offer products in a number of categories, such as Women's Clothing, Men's Clothing, Household Appliances, Lawn and Garden Products, etc. In order to provide access to such large amounts of diverse material, such Web sites typically initially present information on a home page or other high-level pages that lead to a variety of content and subject areas. Because these pages are entry points to a Web site for a diverse, anonymous group of users, these high-level Web pages are typically designed for universal appeal and convenience, with a generic organization. This approach allows users to then select and navigate to Web pages that cover the subject areas or categories of interest to them. These high-level pages typically have a generic design for the further reason that once a Web page is published, i.e., available for Web users to access, the page, including the content and the display format, is typically static (except in many cases for the advertising that displays with the page). Consequently, these pages may be designed to appeal to and suit the needs of the widest, most general group of users possible.
For a particular user to locate material of interest through a high-level Web page, he or she may have to scroll or scan through long lists of links to available material or link through several successive levels of increasing specificity. Users may find sifting through the large amount of available material using these methods to be slow, inefficient and cumbersome. Users may devote a considerable amount of time simply to locating material of interest, and may miss such material altogether due to the prominence or predominance of other material. For example, if material of interest is “below the fold,” i.e., requires scrolling after the Web page arrives in order to be visible, or if it is buried in a large amount of irrelevant information, a user may never consider it.
Moreover, the amount of information and content available on the Internet continues to grow at a fast pace. Not only are new Web sites being created every day, but existing Web sites continue to add new pages with new content. Web sites are reformatted and reorganized, so that users cannot rely on finding the same information in the same place twice consistently. The proliferation of Web content makes it increasingly difficult for users to find what they are looking for. For example, Web portals may become less effective as the amount of Web content classified in their taxonomies increases. The same is true for virtually any large Web site.
If a user becomes frustrated with his or her inability to find desired material at a particular Web site, the user is more likely to go to another Web site for that material, and also to prefer that other Web site for future needs. As many users have the same experience with that Web site, they will similarly favor other Web sites. Eventually, the cumulative effect of these defections will be a significant reduction in traffic at the disfavored Web site. This trend will, in turn, reduce the ability of the disfavored Web site to generate sales and/or advertising revenue (the primary means of revenue generation for many non-e-tailing Web sites).
A more effective means of presenting Web content is tailoring Web content delivered to an individual user to meet the needs, preferences and interests of that user. Personalizing Web content delivered to users may generally improve user satisfaction. Typically on a Web-site-by-Web-site basis, some Web sites support personalization of some features of that particular Web site or a portion of that Web site. A user's experience with Web content on a Web page may include at least three components: content, layout, and graphics components. A Web site may allow a user to explicitly specify certain personalization options with respect to these components. A user may, for example, select desired types of content, perhaps by filling out a questionnaire or checklist.
For example, Yahoo!® (home page: www.yahoo.com), a well-known Web portal, includes a section called “My Yahoo!®” that allows a user to personalize some aspects of his or her interface to Yahoo!®. FIG. 1 shows a screen-shot of the Yahoo!® home page 10. FIG. 2 shows a screen-shot of the My Yahoo!® home page 30. My Yahoo!® allows a user to develop a “Front Page” directed to his or her interests. FIG. 3 is a screen-shot of a Web page form 32 that allows a user to personalize the content of his or her Front Page by explicitly selecting desired content modules from a checklist 34. My Yahoo!® also allows a user to tailor the layout and the presentation features such as color and background based on his or her preferences. FIG. 4 is a screen-shot of a Web page 40 that allows a user to select a layout of the selected content modules for the Front Page; FIG. 5 is a screen-shot of a Web page 50 that allows a user to select a particular color scheme for My Yahoo!® pages. FIG. 6 is a screen-shot of a sample Front Page Web page 60 that has been personalized by a sports fan.
This personalization scheme has limited effectiveness. In the My Yahoo!® type of personalization scheme, the user explicitly specifies his or her preferences and, once specified, these recorded preferences typically remain the same unless explicitly updated or changed. These preferences are invoked by entering a user name and password for or at the particular Web site. Moreover, these preferences are generally specific to a local environment; for example, these preferences may be limited to My Yahoo!® and may not carry over to the “public areas” of the Yahoo!® Web site, let alone to other Web sites. Moreover, these preferences are not applicable to published Web content. In order to specify similar preferences on a different or unrelated Web site, the user must re-specify these preferences, if a personalization option is offered at all. Also, these preferences may not necessarily reflect how a user actually uses the Web. A user may select a content module related to Entertainment, but may not otherwise use the Web to access entertainment-related Web sites or purchase tickets. Thus, this type of personalization may not be useful for generalizing to other contexts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,655 to Fields, et al. shows the use of a proxy server that recasts published Web content from multiple Web sites in the look and feel of a hosting site for delivery to a requesting client. Although a user may choose a look and feel format by registering his or her preferences, the Web content is not personalized.
A need exists for a method and system for tailoring published Web page content in real-time, based on the user profiles of the users requesting the Web pages. A need also exists for a method and system for personalizing published Web page content based on user profiles that accurately reflect Web use. A need also exists for a method and system for personalizing published Web page content from a number of Web sites using a single user profile for each user. A need also exists for a method and system that uses a proxy server system for personalizing published Web page content from a number of Web sites based on the user profiles of the users requesting the Web pages.
The present application is related to Utility application Ser. No. 09/558,755 (“the '755 application”), entitled “Method and System for Web User Profiling and Selective Content Delivery,” filed Apr. 21, 2000, which has a common assignee with the present application, and which is incorporated herein by this reference. The '755 application discloses, inter alia, a method and system for developing profiles for Web users that may be used in conjunction with the present invention.